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Starfield First Contact Mission Walkthrough

How to Complete the First Contact Mission in Starfield

The good, the bad, and the messy

Starfield has numerous factions and organizations with their own objectives, desires, and paths to achieve their goals. However, there are also smaller groups who only wish to find a place to call home. First Contact follows the story of the ECS Constant, a group of people who escaped Earth over 200 years ago and are looking for a new planet to live on. To learn more, continue reading to find a complete quest walkthrough for the First Contact mission in Starfield.

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Starfield: First Contact Quest Walkthrough

You’ll initially begin the quest when you arrive at Porrima II in the Porrima System. Chief Sugiyama will approach you, prompting you to explore an unidentified ship with a distorted transmission. Approach the ship and dock before heading inside and speaking with Diana Brackenridge, the ship’s captain.

Starfield Diana Brackenridge
Screenshot by Prima Games

Table of Contents

Speak to the Ship’s Captain

Diana will explain that her crew escaped Earth over 200 years ago, only to find their next destination occupied by another organization. She asks if you can act as a middleman, and upon accepting, she’ll explain the story of The Constant’s history. I’ll leave you to read through the full dialogue to avoid spoilers.

Talk to Paradiso CEO Oliver Campbell

Once you accept her request, go to Paradiso and speak to Jiro Sugiyama. After telling him about the colonist ship, he’ll refer you to Oliver Campbell, the Paradiso Group CEO. Head to the executive floor, speak to the receptionist to get permission to enter, and then talk to Campbell.

Starfield Oliver Campbell
Screenshot by Prima Games

Related: How to Find Planet Traits in Starfield

After a brief back-and-forth between you, Oliver, and the other two table members, you’re left with multiple options, each with different outcomes:

  • Take a settlement deal, allowing them to live on the island in exchange for labor.
  • Buy the Grav Drive and convince them to settle elsewhere.
  • Blow up their ship.

There are pros and cons to choosing each dialogue option, which I’ll highlight below:

Option 1 – Reach a Settlement Deal

If you pick the settlement deal for ECS Constant, companions like Sarah will dislike your choice and express concern for the crew. Regardless, you can still make the choice, and in doing so, you’ll have to return to Diana and gather the following resources:

  • Fiber: 40
  • Sealant: 20
  • Iron: 80
  • Lithium: 10
Settlement Deal Note Starfield
Screenshot by Prima Games (click to enlarge)

The easiest way to gather these resources is to purchase them from shops such as Jemison Mercantile. However, to save some money, you can explore various planets and harvest the resources manually. Daisuke, the ship’s provisions manager, will also provide you with some materials to help you.

Related: Where to Sell Survey Data in Starfield

Once you have all the necessary items, talk to Diana to wrap up the quest with the settlement deal ending.

Option 2 – Buy a Grav Drive

If you buy a Grav Drive for ECS Constant, you must find Bennu St. James at HopeTech, located at Polvo in the Valo System. Go to HopeTown and speak to Bennu. Initially, he’ll offer to do it for 40,000 Credits, but you can attempt to persuade him to lower it to 25,000.

Buy a Grav Drive fort he First Contact Mission in Starfield
Screenshot by Prima Games

Once you pay for the Grav Drive, return to the ECS Constant and speak to Amin before preparing the ship for the Grav Drive. Pick the following options:

  • Reroute power from the port turbopump to the auxiliary cryogenic radiator.
  • Turn the plasma run-off inhibitor function to five percent.
  • Decouple the magnetic flange pipe enclosures from the auxiliary module assembly.

Interact with the three Engineering Control Computers and input these options before returning to Diana and completing the quest with the Grav Drive ending. You’ll receive various antique trinkets as a reward, which you can keep or sell to help refill the financial void the Grav Drive left.

Of the three options, this one is considered a “good ending” for most of your companions, making it a great choice if you want to raise your relationships.

Option 3 – Blow Up the ECS Constant

When you first ask the hypothetical question of what would make the ship go away, Oliver will describe a situation, much to your companion’s dismay. Characters like Sarah will immediately express their distaste for it, lowering your standing with her. However, you’ll also get a new quest objective to overload the ship’s reactor.

Starfield Blow Up ECS Constant
Screenshot by Prima Games (click to enlarge)

Related: How to Get Platinum in Starfield

To overload the reactor, head back to the ECS Constant and pickpocket the ECS Constant Reactor Terminal Key from Amin. Use this on the nearby Reactor Computer and set the power level to “Emergency Reactor Overdrive.” You’ll then have to confirm the override on Diana’s computer, requiring you to complete an advanced-level lockpicking minigame. Make sure to have some Digipicks on hand for this!

After completing the minigame and confirming the request, the entire ship and its crew will become hostile, attacking you on sight. Escape the ship as quickly as possible and return to your own to watch the ship explode.

Once the ECS Constant explodes, killing everyone inside, return to Oliver to receive unlimited use to the Paradiso hotel and a 6500 credit reward.

Starfield is available on PC and Xbox Series X|S. To learn more, check out how to get Chlorosilanes in Starfield, or click the game tag below to explore our growing content collection.


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Author
Image of Madison Benson
Madison Benson
Madison was a staff writer at Prima Games who has played video games for over twenty years and written about them for over two years. Her love for video games started with turn-based strategy games like Heroes of Might and Magic and has since extended to casual farming sims, MMORPGs, and action-adventure RPGs.